The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will hold special public meetings during March to introduce proposed changes to management practices on many popular wildlife management areas for waterfowl habitat.

The meetings are part of the AGFC’s ongoing effort to keep the public informed about habitat degradation in many wetland areas, particularly artificially flooded bottomland hardwood forests known as greentree reservoirs that produce the finest duck hunting experience in the United States.

“Hunting on greentree reservoirs draws duck hunters from all over the country to The Natural State,” said Luke Naylor, waterfowl program coordinator for the AGFC. “But over decades, those forests have slowly changed, and our management must change with them if we are to continue this great tradition of hunting flooded timber and providing waterfowl with the habitat they need.”

Many hunters have become accustomed to constant high water being available near the opening day of waterfowl season, but according to growing scientific research in Arkansas and other states with greentree reservoirs, the practice has damaged many of the trees that produce the acorns ducks need.

“Flooding before a tree is dormant, and doing so consistently, causes damage,” Naylor said. “And most hunters will tell you there often are plenty of green leaves on the trees during the opening weekend of duck season. We need to begin managing our greentree reservoirs to follow more natural flooding patterns, which typically occur later and fluctuate from year to year.”

The AGFC also has produced a mailing, which describes the situation in detail. It will be delivered to each Arkansas resident who has purchased a waterfowl stamp in the last three years and each non-resident who has purchased a non-resident waterfowl WMA permit in the last three years. A digital version of that mailing is available at http://www.agfc.com/hunting/Documents/GTR.pdf.

“There has been a lot of talk lately about many other aspects of duck hunting on Arkansas’s famous public WMAs,” Naylor said. “But this change is much more important. This is to protect and re-establish the habitat that originally drew ducks to these areas. Without that, Arkansas’s famous green timber duck hunting could very well become a thing of the past.”

Each year, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission holds a drawing for the opportunity to hunt certain wildlife management areas to prevent overcrowding and manage the harvest on popular public hunting areas. Applications for the 2015-16 season were were accepted in June and winners are drawn and notified in mid-July. Once drawn, successful applicants had 4 weeks to pay a $10 processing fee for their permit. Then, all unsuccessful applicants were put back into a pool to redraw for unclaimed permits. Hunters who were successful during the second draw were given two weeks to pay $10 for their second-chance permits.

Even with two drawings, there are still a few unclaimed permits available for hunters who were not successful in either drawing and those who failed to apply in time. The AGFC will offer these unclaimed permits on a first-come, first-served basis though an online sale. Each permit costs $10 (the same cost as the original processing fee). There is no limit to the number of extra permits a person may purchase, but permits may only be purchased one-at-a-time. Purchases may only be completed using a credit card. Permits for the 2015-16 deer season will be available online beginning at 8 a.m., Sept. 8, 2015.

The first drawing for the AGFC’s WMA deer hunts has been completed. Email notifications were sent out to all successful applicants on July 7. Successful applicants have until 11:59 p.m. August 6 to pay for their permits. All unclaimed permits will be forfeited and will be used for a second drawing for all applicants who were unsuccessful during the first draw. The second drawing will take place August 13. To check your permit status and pay for permits, visit the link below:

Leftover WMA Turkey Hunt Permits go on sale beginning 8 a.m., Monday, March 23. This year we are implementing a special queue system to help prevent crashes and overloads from increased web traffic. When you click to enter the permit process, you will receive a brief explanation of the queue and how it works. When you click to proceed from that page, you will be “in line” with an indicator of how many people are in front of you. When it’s your turn, you will have 10 minutes to choose a permit and complete your purchase. After 10 minutes your place in line cannot be guaranteed.
If you wish to buy additional permits, you must go back through the queue. This is to ensure as many people as possible have a chance to get a leftover permit.
the list of leftover permits is available at http://www.agfc.com/lic…/Documents/LeftoverTurkeyPermits.pdf
The queue will begin at 8 a.m., Wednesday morning at the following link: http://static.ark.org/agfc/permitting.html

Anglers who drew have until February 9 to pay the $10 processing fee to obtain their permit. After that, all unclaimed permits will be placed back in the pool, and a second drawing will be held for those applicants who did not draw during the first round. Unclaimed permits from that round of drawings will be placed in a first-come, first-served online sale March 23.

Each year, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission holds a drawing for the opportunity to hunt certain wildlife management areas to prevent overcrowding and manage the harvest on our public land. Applications are accepted in June and winners are drawn and notified in mid-July. Successful applicants are given three weeks to pay a $10 processing fee for their permit. This fee helps offset the cost of the drawing that is conducted by a third-party vendor and helps gain a commitment from permit winners.

Many permits remain unclaimed after the payment period, some of which are available at some of the AGFC’s most popular hunts. The AGFC offers these leftover permits on a first-come, first-served basis though an online sale. Each permit costs $10 (the same cost as the original processing fee). There is no limit to the number of extra permits a person may purchase, but permits may only be purchased one-at-a-time. Purchases may only be completed using a credit card. Permits for the 2014-15 deer season will be available online beginning at 8 a.m., Sept. 8, 2014.